Vodafone wins contract for South Central Ambulance Service

Vodafone will save an estimated £500,000 after winning a contract to provide total communication services to the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS).

The operator will provide fixed-line services, mobile connectivity and handle its 999 call centre infrastructure support and maintence. SCAS was formed from a merger of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire ambulance trusts and covers a 3,500 square mile area with a population of four million.

The area was previously covered by a number of communications suppliers. Vodafone said the unified provider would save it half a million pounds during the next five years and 'maximise efficiencies, helping the service to continue to provide high-quality healthcare services to patients'.

Vince Weldon, associate director of information management and technology at SCAS said: 'Vodafone’s technology will benefit both our employees and the local communities. In addition to helping us improve the effectiveness of our everyday working, we see Vodafone as a credible strategic partner and an organisation that can work with us to deliver innovation and support our new ways of working ambitions. We hope this partnership will successfully demonstrate how effective telecoms solutions can help in the evolution of the health sector.'